A medical equipment is a prosthetic device which is used by a healthcare specialist and other occasion used by patients for diagnosis, correction of anomalies and testing malfunction and defects in their bodies. Medical equipment comes in different forms, make and sizes. The majority of hospital medical equipment is indispensable, but a few patient-friendly can be left with the patients for self-administration.
Different departments in a hospital for inpatient and outpatient use different kinds of equipment in executing their healthcare services to their patients with differed attention required. In medical equipment, there are categories for different purposes in the healthcare system, for example, diagnosis equipment, treating equipment and minor & major surgery equipment. Involving medical attention in patients increases the payable bills significantly because they are expensive to acquire and maintain.
Types of hospital medical equipment
- Diagnostic equipment: these are medical equipment used for diagnosis purposes. They are used to test and screen. Examples of these medical equipment include; thermometer, stethoscope, sphygmomanometer, X-ray and MRI machines. It is factual when they say, the correct diagnosis will lead to correct treatment and it forms a routine for doctors and other healthcare specialists. Without performing diagnosis, well, chances are that prescriptions of medical services might be misleading. With the CT scan, the specialist will be able to detect heart diseases, while the X-ray machines scan orthopedic and ailments.
- Therapeutic equipment: therapeutic equipment involves the use of therapeutic devices, laser therapy, ultrasound devices, and magnetotherapy. These devices have been designed using very high technologies. Their core function is to heal wounds and prevent illness. Other conditions like swelling wounds, wounds, diabetes, etc are treated using some of the therapeutic equipment.
- Surgical instruments: success in surgery depend on surgical instruments used, surgical instruments are further categorised into six by their functionalities
- Cutting instruments – examples of these are; bone chisel, dissecting knife, bone cutter, tenotomy scissors.
- Grasping/holding instruments- these are surgical pinzette, forceps, forceps tissue, forceps dissecting and a needle holder
- Hemostatic forceps – we have mosquito forceps, Kelly forceps and Kocher forceps used to stop blood from flowing during surgery.
- Retractors – these are nerve hook, goelet retractor, and skin hook, a surgeon can separate the edges of a surgical incision or a wound
- Clamps and distractors – examples of these are towel clamp and towel forceps
- Accessories and implants – these include dilator, surgical needle, sterilisation tray, etc for other accessories and implants
- Durable medical equipment: these include wheelchairs, commodes and raised toilets. Others are; iron lungs, oxygen rents, nebulizers, hospital beds, and catheters.
- Biomedical equipment: The biomedical equipment test is better for checking irreplaceable equipment. They are used for oxygen concentrator, ventilator testing, and anesthesia gas.
Medical equipment operation
The daily operation of the hospital’s medical equipment is done by a professional (BMET) who acts as an interface between the medical specialists and the hospital’s medical equipment. They can operate different kinds of equipment, although they still have specialty medical equipment, which they have broad and in-depth knowledge of.
Medical Equipment Identification
There has been an improvement in medical equipment identification (UID) and the naming with a new standardised method (IMDRF) which is International Medical Device Regulatory.
Hospital medical equipment suppliers in QLD produce quality products that meet the requirements of IMDRF, it will be cheap for hospitals in Australia to procure their facilities instead of importing them because it will save shipping costs hence relatively cheaper as compared to imported hospital equipment.
